How is everyone doing? This has been a crazy year, whether or not your industry was "COVID Friendly" or not. But the one thing that everyone valued, was home. Needless to say it was a strange time to be a realtor, renter, or involved in a Real Estate transaction. For us, this was just a cycle. Real Estate like life has cycles, it is how you adapt to said cycles that defines your ability to be successful in this industry. I do love some of the success stories that have come out this year, here is one of ours:
There are a couple of metrics I would like to first go over:
Real Estate Lead Sources:
2019:
We had a total of 244 leads and they broke down like this:
1. Zillow 44% 2. Ring Central 29% 3. Facebook 19% 4. Other 8%
2020:
We had a total of 1,548 leads and they broke down like this:
1. Facebook 48% 2. Zillow 25% 3. Ring Central 20% 4. Other 7%
Zillow seems to be at the heart of most changes in the real estate industry. In 2018/2109, they bought up a lot of the smaller real estate lead sources so in 2019 there were a lot of "Zillow" sources even if they did not have the name "Zillow" on them. In 2020/2021, they are going to start charging Real Estate Agents and everyone else to post their listing onto Zillow. While we did not know this earlier in the year, I am glad we are in a position that we don't need to add that unnecessary expense to the real estate process that already has had increasing costs.
Other than that, I can not believe what moved where and what numbers grew. But let's get a little bit into Social Media.
Social Media:
2019:
Number of Listings: 25, Views: 28,007, Messages: 573, Average Conversion Rate: 1.23%
2020:
Number of Listings: 32, Views: 81,992 , Messages: 3217, Average Conversion Rate: 3.77%
Generally in marketing, 5% conversion rate or higher is good, but I love that jump from last year to this year. Looking at these numbers, it is easy to see how Facebook was the most ample lead source for us this year. In truth, our listings have been on Social Media since 2018 but it is in 2018 that I started to log those results and really work on increasing the results. Facebook is working very hard to get into the real estate game and I believe its earning a place, besides the fact that a modern business needs to incorporate Social Media into their game plan to survive in the current and future economy.
Showings:
2019:
Number of Showings: 74, Number of people texted: 635, People attended: 288
Average Conversion Rate: 42.04%
2020:
Number of Showings: 67, Number of People Texted: 1,997, People Attended: 622
Average Conversion Rate: 31.15%
In a year that had so many numbers going up, it was a slight bummer to see the average conversion rate go down. But beyond that, we reached so many more people than last year, and given that COVID was the mood for the year, that is a pretty darn good turnout. On our end, it was a little more work to do a COVID friendly showing-one group at a time, cleaning between showings, PEAD, more supplies such as gloves-but we were happy to do so and protect the interest of both the attendees and the clients!
There is a saying that the Proof is in the Numbers. The numbers show we were busy, but so was the consumer whether you are talking about someone buying a home or looking for a rental. This year was also the first year we are tracking both sales and rental stats. In reality, most places you can post a listing-such as the MLS or Zillow-will offer you stats as well. Statistics and Data are becoming very valuable as they are on their way to becoming a commodity themselves.
What are some things to consider that might be affecting us next year? Zillow will change how agents do business, and I would say that their move is a risky one. 2020 is the last year of President Trump and the first year of a new decade, so Census. New president and allocation of money in 2021 could be good or bad. Low interest rate is a great opportunity that everyone should be taking advantage of, and that looks like it will continue into next year. Which is great for home owners and landlords alike, but if you are a landlord-you need to keep an eye on the everchanging tenant laws. Between new tenant laws and COVID, this is turning into a tenant friendly state. What is the line that landlords draw? On the other hand, I would put my retirement in the hands of my rentals and no so much rely that government offered aid in retirement will still be there by the time you are ready to enjoy your golden years. Not to mention the elephant in the room, COVID. How does year two of the COVID saga play out?
Orange, CA-TRREG DRE#01843673-RP100 DRE#02059058-P:714-831-1800-E:info@theresultsrealestategroup.com-W:www.theresultsrealestategroup.com-Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - LinkedIn
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